Letter to the Seven Churches–Pergamum

Outline: Seven Churches – Pergamum
Passage: Revelation 2:12-17
Discussion audio (1 hour)

We continue in our journey through the first act of Revelation – the seven letters. This one is to the church in Pergamum which appears to be having some serious problems in its faithfulness to Jesus. The imagery presented in this letter seems rather violent and threatening.

The main point of discussion is how to reconcile what appears to be contradictory teachings given by Paul and John in regards to eating food offered to idols. We took some time discussing the difference between morality and ethics and how scripture seems to point to God’s judgment being based on ethics rather than on morality.

This letter contains additional imagery and symbolic language that we covered:

• The sword coming out of Jesus’ mouth and the nature of the war this entails
• The relevance of “hidden manna”
• The relevance of the “white stone”
• The interpretation of “a new name”